Hello! Hope this finds you well.

So far - really enjoying the game. The systems themselves feel like exactly what I was hoping for from this style of sandbox. I've played for 7 or so hours now and have a ton of low-level feedback on the actual UX though, which you can of course feel free to ignore =D That said, I think this is where the game needs the most attention because the second-to-second gameplay just currently gets in its own way and creates an obstacle from enjoyment of the deeper systems. This isn't a big list of features or requests, just basic QoL to make the core fun and repeatable so I can get invested and enjoyment out of killing all those bandits to get my gold for my first Claim in the next Alpha =D

With that said:

Bugs

• Several UI elements (eg. the New Player Ribbon) swallow clicks, resulting in suddenly stopping movement or attacks
• Target Spells (eg. Execute) regularly fail to find a valid target, despite there obviously being one. Raycasts currently stop at the first thing encountered (which so far has been my friend or myself)), rather than checking each Hit until it finds a valid target. Realistically, it shouldn't even be checking for raycast hits against invalid targets through some sensible use of tagging or layers.

Accessibility

• WASD is a necessity, even if it's simply a pathing request to Transform.position + a vector taken from the WASD input, after checking that a ray in that direction isn't blocked.
• As an arthritis sufferer, holding or repeatedly pressing a mouse button is significantly more painful than holding a keyboard key, and movement is too integral to ignore in this kind of game
• This obviously comes with the necessity of rebinding action bars. If you're using Unity Action Maps this shouldn't be an issue. I would recommend the boring old default of 12345678. Yeah everyone'll change it - but that's fine.
• Clicking action bars is a must for accessibility. You already have the Edit Action Bar expand, and can use this to swap behaviours for moving of actionbar elements vs simply clicking to use.

Core Combat UX

• Left and Right-Click currently overlap in behaviours, creating unexpected inputs
• They should overlap in Movement, and Movement only.
• I would propose that Left-Click deals (exclusively) in Movement and Interaction. I can use it to move, loot, craft, select, radial, interact. If in range, use the thing. Otherwise, move there. No more fighting.
• I would propose that Right-Click follows the same logic but for combat. As such - it deals in both Movement and Combat. If I'm using a ranged weapon - shoot. If I have a target that's too far - move-to and attack. Otherwise, move.
• As a player, I can guarantee that by Right-Clicking or holding Right-Click, that I am fighting or moving towards the fight. I no longer accidentally loot things in combat. My input is specifically combat so raycasts can specifically check for combat targets and not result in me dud-clicking my allies
• Likewise, I can guarantee that by Left-Clicking that I'm interacting. I can loot the thing and get out fast without accidentally lunging with my spear.
• Finally, specific abilities should take precedence over regular attacks. If I'm right-clicking on a target to autoattack them, and press Execute - then it should Execute before continuing attacking. I shouldn't have to release a general input to do a specific one.

Other General UX Feedback from a New User PoV

• Secondary UI Tabs were really unintuitive the first time (eg. Materials, Armors etc. in the Crafting menu) as they literally just blend in with the world behind the interface.
• Many items should have tooltips in their crafting menus, so I can actually see what a sword is in advance - or maybe decide that the Battle Axe is so useless stat wise that I shouldn't have wasted the ingot =D
• Grey Buttons look disabled. As a first-time user I regularly think a button isn't available to me yet (Eg. Place or Craft) when in fact that's just the default aesthetic.
• Map zooming is borked. It should zoom to cursor or to center of screen - it currently zooms in and out from some point in the top rightish? (Maybe this is different on different resolutions)
• Cooldown radial on Action Bars is faaar too subtle. I can't see it out of the corner of my eye, and I need to be able to know at a glance when something is available.
• Passive Abilities are not communicated very well (eg. Bleeding Strike). Is it supposed to stay on? It doesn't say, it only specifies 'Next' but it feels like a passive weapon buff. It's annoying that it disables when I mount.
• As someone that just uses Axe/Shield and a Bow, that third tab-weapon option is the most irritating thing on the planet

Sorry for the big list. Normally I'd just disregard the game and move on to another after encountering stuff like this - but honestly the foundation is so good and it just needs some basic UX polish to move to the next level. Obviously you don't want something super hack'n'slashy, but I think it's important to look at solutions in LoL, Diablo, Torchlight, Dota etc. to these kinds of interaction problems that your game is suffering for with misaligned expectations vs outcomes.

Thanks for taking the time to read and best of luck with the rest of your Alpha

Thanks for your comments ^^ Just replying to each of your items:

Gamer Seuss

1. It's not about emulating other games, it's about finding the right ways to stand out
2. While I don't know the surrounding discussions - I think that decision will be the doom of the game. Let players play how they want to play. It's not a large design challenge to cater to both. If I'm so busy targeting with the mouse in the top-right - what if I want to move down and left?
3. I think you missed the point here - I understand how weapons work in RPGs. Having to tab between the empty states that I'm not using is my issue.

• QoL: These aren't just QoL improvements, but basic UX. There's a significant difference. Developing mechanics on something that feels bad means you can't actually measure how the mechanic feels. Beta and Alpha is irrelevant here - making it feel nice to use should have happened much sooner than either.

Spoletta

• Comments on WASD above. I'd be happy to dig into this more but it seems I missed that train xD
• Glad to hear the interactions are improving. There's work to do of course but it's always great to hear from other people that there's progress!
• Glad to hear the Secondary UI Tabs aren't a bespoke problem to me. It's a pretty obvious problem once you realise that we automatically tune out the contents outside the box when searching inside it.
• Also glad to hear more commentary on the Tab Rotation. As simple as a little [+] to add a new loadout and an [x} in the corner to remove one so I don't have to cycle through empty states, with a fixed cap.

@OlivePit
I'm not convinced you know what a raycast is, this is a functional issue.

I also am not convinced you know what animation cancelling is, or how botting works. I can currently hold my mouse just right of my character and press E to do an attack. Being able to hold W and press E to do an attack is exactly the same.

@GamerSeuss said in UX Design and Second-To-Second Gameplay:

This is one example of the kind of choice the Devs want you to have to make and prioritize in combat. Do you move or do you target. The entire flow of their combat system is based around the mouse move/target method.

Players can play how they want to play, as long as they don't 'want to play' what is basically "Not this game.'

I think you're overcomplicating this. The speed difference is inconsequential, that was my point. This doesn't have much to do with other games either. I want to play this game, but I also have painful joints and want when I hold A for the game to respond as if I'm clicking and holding just to the left of my character. No gameplay loop has changed meaningfully as a consequence of this. Any timing difference this makes is practically non-existent in an MMO.

Thanks for your comments ^^ Just replying to each of your items:

Gamer Seuss

1. It's not about emulating other games, it's about finding the right ways to stand out
2. While I don't know the surrounding discussions - I think that decision will be the doom of the game. Let players play how they want to play. It's not a large design challenge to cater to both. If I'm so busy targeting with the mouse in the top-right - what if I want to move down and left?
3. I think you missed the point here - I understand how weapons work in RPGs. Having to tab between the empty states that I'm not using is my issue.

• QoL: These aren't just QoL improvements, but basic UX. There's a significant difference. Developing mechanics on something that feels bad means you can't actually measure how the mechanic feels. Beta and Alpha is irrelevant here - making it feel nice to use should have happened much sooner than either.

Spoletta

• Comments on WASD above. I'd be happy to dig into this more but it seems I missed that train xD
• Glad to hear the interactions are improving. There's work to do of course but it's always great to hear from other people that there's progress!
• Glad to hear the Secondary UI Tabs aren't a bespoke problem to me. It's a pretty obvious problem once you realise that we automatically tune out the contents outside the box when searching inside it.
• Also glad to hear more commentary on the Tab Rotation. As simple as a little [+] to add a new loadout and an [x} in the corner to remove one so I don't have to cycle through empty states, with a fixed cap.

Hello! Hope this finds you well.

So far - really enjoying the game. The systems themselves feel like exactly what I was hoping for from this style of sandbox. I've played for 7 or so hours now and have a ton of low-level feedback on the actual UX though, which you can of course feel free to ignore =D That said, I think this is where the game needs the most attention because the second-to-second gameplay just currently gets in its own way and creates an obstacle from enjoyment of the deeper systems. This isn't a big list of features or requests, just basic QoL to make the core fun and repeatable so I can get invested and enjoyment out of killing all those bandits to get my gold for my first Claim in the next Alpha =D

With that said:

Bugs

• Several UI elements (eg. the New Player Ribbon) swallow clicks, resulting in suddenly stopping movement or attacks
• Target Spells (eg. Execute) regularly fail to find a valid target, despite there obviously being one. Raycasts currently stop at the first thing encountered (which so far has been my friend or myself)), rather than checking each Hit until it finds a valid target. Realistically, it shouldn't even be checking for raycast hits against invalid targets through some sensible use of tagging or layers.

Accessibility

• WASD is a necessity, even if it's simply a pathing request to Transform.position + a vector taken from the WASD input, after checking that a ray in that direction isn't blocked.
• As an arthritis sufferer, holding or repeatedly pressing a mouse button is significantly more painful than holding a keyboard key, and movement is too integral to ignore in this kind of game
• This obviously comes with the necessity of rebinding action bars. If you're using Unity Action Maps this shouldn't be an issue. I would recommend the boring old default of 12345678. Yeah everyone'll change it - but that's fine.
• Clicking action bars is a must for accessibility. You already have the Edit Action Bar expand, and can use this to swap behaviours for moving of actionbar elements vs simply clicking to use.

Core Combat UX

• Left and Right-Click currently overlap in behaviours, creating unexpected inputs
• They should overlap in Movement, and Movement only.
• I would propose that Left-Click deals (exclusively) in Movement and Interaction. I can use it to move, loot, craft, select, radial, interact. If in range, use the thing. Otherwise, move there. No more fighting.
• I would propose that Right-Click follows the same logic but for combat. As such - it deals in both Movement and Combat. If I'm using a ranged weapon - shoot. If I have a target that's too far - move-to and attack. Otherwise, move.
• As a player, I can guarantee that by Right-Clicking or holding Right-Click, that I am fighting or moving towards the fight. I no longer accidentally loot things in combat. My input is specifically combat so raycasts can specifically check for combat targets and not result in me dud-clicking my allies
• Likewise, I can guarantee that by Left-Clicking that I'm interacting. I can loot the thing and get out fast without accidentally lunging with my spear.
• Finally, specific abilities should take precedence over regular attacks. If I'm right-clicking on a target to autoattack them, and press Execute - then it should Execute before continuing attacking. I shouldn't have to release a general input to do a specific one.

Other General UX Feedback from a New User PoV

• Secondary UI Tabs were really unintuitive the first time (eg. Materials, Armors etc. in the Crafting menu) as they literally just blend in with the world behind the interface.
• Many items should have tooltips in their crafting menus, so I can actually see what a sword is in advance - or maybe decide that the Battle Axe is so useless stat wise that I shouldn't have wasted the ingot =D
• Grey Buttons look disabled. As a first-time user I regularly think a button isn't available to me yet (Eg. Place or Craft) when in fact that's just the default aesthetic.
• Map zooming is borked. It should zoom to cursor or to center of screen - it currently zooms in and out from some point in the top rightish? (Maybe this is different on different resolutions)
• Cooldown radial on Action Bars is faaar too subtle. I can't see it out of the corner of my eye, and I need to be able to know at a glance when something is available.
• Passive Abilities are not communicated very well (eg. Bleeding Strike). Is it supposed to stay on? It doesn't say, it only specifies 'Next' but it feels like a passive weapon buff. It's annoying that it disables when I mount.
• As someone that just uses Axe/Shield and a Bow, that third tab-weapon option is the most irritating thing on the planet

Sorry for the big list. Normally I'd just disregard the game and move on to another after encountering stuff like this - but honestly the foundation is so good and it just needs some basic UX polish to move to the next level. Obviously you don't want something super hack'n'slashy, but I think it's important to look at solutions in LoL, Diablo, Torchlight, Dota etc. to these kinds of interaction problems that your game is suffering for with misaligned expectations vs outcomes.

Thanks for taking the time to read and best of luck with the rest of your Alpha